World Notes Mexico

The army claimed it was a tragic accident. On Nov. 7 a planeload of narcotics agents from the Mexican Attorney General's office landed at a clandestine airstrip in hot pursuit of a plane from Colombia that stopped to refuel -- and turned out to contain more than 814 lbs. of cocaine. When the Mexican narcs emerged, more than 100 soldiers already on the ground opened fire, killing seven of the agents.

Although the military claimed that the agents had been mistaken for drug smugglers, mounting evidence indicated that the soldiers were at the airstrip not to capture the smugglers -- both of whom escaped -- but to protect them. Last week an investigation by Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights, aided by videotapes of the scene taken by U.S. Customs agents flying overhead, concluded that the local regional commander, General Alfredo Moran Acevedo, bore the major responsibility for the deaths. Arriving at the scene with reinforcements, after receiving at least two telephone warnings that his men were shooting at drug agents, he continued the attack. Although the report charged that Moran, his four top assistants and 14 soldiers had violated both military and civilian regulations and should be investigated by the defense ministry, it stopped short of accusing the army of drug trafficking.